Just Me: Black Eggs and Ham

I'm a forgetful person, I've come to grips with it. There's a reason why I wear everything important on a lanyard and hang it around my neck like a crazy person. I'm not a dumb person. I went to graduate school and got a master's degree in Cell and Molecular Biology. Ten years later, I can still describe in detail the expression of DNA to the production of proteins. I can remember those things, but ask me where I put my keys and I draw a blank. You can literally hand me my cell phone and wait five minutes. If it's not in my pocket, most likely, I will have absolutely no memory of putting it down anywhere. I really have to focus on mundane tasks and repeat it to myself "check on the desk" a couple of times to make some sort of memory impression. Okay, that's the background, here's the story.

This past week, I woke up at three in the morning after falling asleep at 6 pm the day before. Energized, I hit my to-do list with unbridled energy. By the time lunchtime had arrived, I had done three loads of laundry, vacuumed, swept and mopped...it was awesome. In the midst of all that, I had also put some eggs on the stove to hardboil for my salads at work. Remember that detail...because I didn't.

My sister asked me to meet her at the mall on the other side of the island. I had taken some pictures of her twin daughters for her to use for their 1st birthday invitations. We met at the mall, designed some invitations...and then she asked if I wanted to eat lunch. Sure. I love lunch. We went to California Pizza Kitchen, one of absolute faves, and had the most scrumptious lunch. Oh, diet begone...I had the artichoke dip and fettucine alfredo pasta. So, almost three hours after leaving home, I finally get in my car to make the drive home...stuffed and content.

Should I stop at the store? Do I need anything? I know I have enough eggs....eggs...why does eggs keep nagging my mind...

OMG!!!

I have a clear memory of putting eggs in a small pot of water on the stove to boil and I KNOW i never went back. It's now three hours later. I called Scott...no answer. I called my mother-in-law...she's at work. I called my brother-in-law....wait, Scott is finally calling me back. He's at church. I tell him to race home. He hangs up immediately and I'm left driving on the H-3 with white knuckles clutching the steering wheel. I call my sister and explain what I did and there's some frightening silence interrupted by "Oh no"s. I ask for prayer...but what do I pray for. What's the minimum damage I can pray for. We just got a new roommate who is in Maui on spring break. How bad would I feel having to say "hey there, I'm sorry but your stuff kind of got burned up in a small house fire." And, wait, if the kitchen did catch fire, wouldn't our neighbors notice and call the fire department. How come no one called us? Wait, they don't have our phone numbers....These are the thoughts that cross my mind. Expect the worst, pray for the best.

The most scared twenty minute drive of my life.

Scott got home ten minutes before I did. A scorched pot...a really bad smell...but that was it. God is great...AMEN!!! I know that God delivered me out of this one. So, thankfully, my wonderful husband was just shaking his head in bewilderment and looking at the exploded egg pieces over our kitchen. He also brought up that last week, I called him at four in the morning because I remembered that I had left a chicken baking in the oven six hours prior (that he had already discovered and taken out). And I haven't used the stove since this little incident, I am going to come up with some system...maybe a big stop sign on our front door.

It's odd because I swear I put three eggs in the pot but now there's only two. And we found small pieces of egg and egg shells on the floor and walls...some by the piano which is not only ten feet away from the stove, but it's not even in eyesight of the stove...somehow the egg piece must have had a curved flight. Still, all the egg shards don't quite add up to the missing egg.

Eggs anyone? (we added the water to cool it down before trashing it)

And yesterday, I found some still on the wall and on top of the fridge:
(top of fridge)

(cupboard door)

Wedding: Tiffany and Bill (north shore)

What: Wedding of Tiffany and Bill
Where: North shore of Oahu's coast
When: March 20th, 2009, 4:00 pm

Scott and I recently had another wedding through one of the island's best wedding planners, Moana Bjur. She met us on the north shore of Oahu on the sandy shores of Kawela Bay. It was the first time that either of us had been there before and we even missed the access path driving by the first. Kawela Bay is a white sandy beach hidden away near blue waters without another soul in sight. The afternoon was quite warm with the sun beating down on the water's edge, but I really fell in love with a banyan grove that you walk through to get to the beach. I'd love to go there more often, if only it wasn't an hour from my house (we island people aren't used to things being farther than 10 minutes away).

Tiffany and Bill chose our Hawaiian paradise to wed after three years of dating. They brought close family members with them in a romantic destination wedding. Tiffany walked down the aisle to soft strains of a Brother Iz remake of the classic "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" being played on the ukulele. I couldn't help but sing along softly under my breath. I would have sung louder but I doubt everyone else would have enjoyed it as much as I do. The only uninvited guests were some horses and their riders riding far in the distance on the sand.

What a small world. I found that the ukulele player was actually my high school classmate, Kanekoa. No wonder I was having a Song Contest flashback when I was singing to myself during his song list. Our high school was heavy on it's musical influence.



















To view or purchase images from this event, please visit the online gallery at http://keaosphotography.instaproofs.com/

Wedding sneak peek: Tiffany and Bill

Wedding of Tiffany and Bill
Where: North Shore, Oahu
When: March 20th, 2009 at 4 pm

Growing Up-Sammie's 1st Birthday Session

Today is Samantha's 1st birthday. Sammie turns 1. Her mom and I have been trying to get together to take pictures of this little girl for a while. With six days to her first birthday, we just scraped it in. Before she was born, Kanani showed me pics of her other kids when they were babies and told me "my babies don't have hair but they're the cutest babies you'll ever see." I thought she was just speaking with a mother's bias, but she was right. Sammie has these big eyes with the longest lashes, simply striking.

I showed up at their house early Monday morning. Sammie is not my biggest fan, she usually clings to mom constantly (and I'm not exaggerating with the word "constantly"). However, since I met them on location at their house, she was in her comfort zone. And when I unpacked my bags of goodies...alphabet blocks...my lens and flashes, she became my best bud. And since mom was adventurous and let us try all sorts of poses, Sammie was delighted to find that she could now climb on anything she wanted. All rules went out the door. But the real delight, was when mom brought out the cupcake with yummy pink frosting. Too bad, she dropped it frosting side down and spent ten minutes digging through the cupcake trying to find it. I hope I got enough good ones. She's a smiler but quick...she mastered walking weeks ago and has moved on to jogging.

Ko Olina: Wedding of Michael and Celeste

Yah, I am so excited to post the photos from Michael and Celeste's beach wedding. One, this batch took a little more work due to the cold and gray skies we've been having...I know, isn't Hawaii always supposed to be paradise. They traveled all the way from California with close friends and really wanted a wedding on the sand with the sun setting behind them. Celeste's cousin who acted as their wedding planner found Scott and me on craigslist and decided to hire us both, Scott for his superb officiating and me for my not-so-shabby photography. Hawaii delivered on the "wedding on the beach" half but weather didn't yield a sunset for us. Our little island is slowly freezing to ice here in the Pacific Ocean, we've been hit with quite a cold storm front. I mean, the current temperature is 64 degrees (okay, i'ts five in the morning)...but we locals aren't really made for this kind of weather(I know...I know...we're spoiled). However, this wedding party seemed oblivious to the cooler climate...the party seemed to have started long before the ceremony even began.

The second reason I'm so excited...I just have so many favorites. I don't think I've ever blogged this many. It was just such a blessing for me and my husband. I really love being able to photograph weddings that he's working as well. I love his style and I am also familiar with his rhythmn. It helps me prepare for my next shot. And everyone who came to support Michael and Celeste were so unbelievable nice. They picked a beautiful spot on the sand right next to the black rocks and blue ocean. I even got to engage in some Nikon vs. Canon shop talk while following the wedding party as they clambered over rocks. By far, my most adventuresome couple. Congratulations!!! Eight years in the making and worth the wait.

To view all the images from this day, go to http://www.keaosphotography.instaproofs.com/. (Email addresses entered are only used to notify you when the album is taken off-line)

Sneak Peek: Michael and Celeste

Sneek Peek:

Wedding of Michael and Celeste

March 6th, 2009 at 5:00 pm

Ko Olina Beaches

I'm working on photos from two major events this past weekend, the sweet and sassy beach wedding of Michael and Celeste and a women's conference hosted by HCKB. I know I always promise sneek peeks but I get carried away going through the photos and I forget to take a break to put a few up. Check back in because in a few days, I'll be blogging about this *ahem* sunset wedding with no sun (so blessed that this couple were a little too wrapped up in each other to notice) and posting pictures from that special day.

Just me and my life-Run Lola Run

Following Scott and my adventure doing the Great Aloha Run (see Scott's blog), I was inspired.

Early sunday morning, the first morning of March 2009, I found myself at Kapiolani Park surrounded by a crowd of women all wearing pastel dry weave running tanks and black shorts. I actually used to love running, I ran track, soccer, and mostly just for fun. The only community runs I did was the Straub Women's 10K race back in high school. Fifteen years later, and 20...30...maybe 40 lbs heavier, I signed up again. I've been running a little frequently but I mix it in with a lot of walking so I wasn't sure how I'd do, but I was really curious to find out.

Sunday, March 1st 2009

5:00 phone alarm goes off
5:00-5:15 Hitting snooze alarm multiple times...even lying on cell phone to muffle sound
5:30 rushing to the car with tons of stuff for church
5:31 stopping to toss some stuff into Scott's car
5:32 In car and going going going
5:42 Pondering "I did toss my running shoes in the car, right? Yah, I definitely did."
6:10 Finding a sweet parking spot only 1/4 mile from the race start
6:10 Sitting in my car realizing that I maybe didn't bring my shoes after all

Yup, I'm sitting, all decked out in my workout clothes...and my black rubbah slippahs. Hmm. I called Scott and woke him up all distraught. Even in a deep sleep, he was able to offer insightful advice. He thought I should go to the officials and ask if I could borrow their shoes. He was really serious. When I didn't jump at the idea of asking strangers to lend me their shoes, he volunteered to jump in the car and bring me my shoes. Yah, Scottie, my hero!!!

While waiting, I jumped in line for the bathroom at Kapiolani Park which took forever...scott actually had drive from Kaneohe to Waikiki before I got to the front of the line...and that's even with the women taking over the men side as well. Much to the dismay of the very drunk weird guy who kept yelling "what? You got to be kidding me!!!" even as he patiently stood at the end of the line. And Scott got there five minutes before the starting gun went off, bless my bestest husband ever.

As I stood in the crowd of maybe a couple hundred women and waited nervously for the race start, I started to get the feel that perhaps I'm a little behind the times. All these girls that these earbuds with cords that disappeared into these cute little miniscule white mp3 players on armbands or in some pocket.

Here's my music player of choice:

I can't believe these are out of style already...I finally made the big switch from a walkman to the discman a few years ago. Scott and I hosted a dinner at someone else's house and the host apologized that the stereo system was broken but offered IPOD speakers. Scott and I had to scoff a little and say "IPOD? We don't have IPODS."

I also can't stand having things in my pockets. So, guess what was clenched in my sweaty hand for 6 miles.

And let's face it, I'm not in the best shape. Check out these chubby legs. Do they look like capable of speed? I think not. These babies are meant for sitting on the couch watching Top Chef.

During the run, I tried to pace myself but I pushed myself too hard in the middle section cause I died at the end. I had to start walking at the end but then people kept stopping and encouraging me to run with them. So, when I crossed the line, I felt like I was going to throw up. And they have volunteers that form a tunnel and channel you to the middle of the park. They were waving their hands in my face and I pushed through them praying "please don't throw up on them...don't throw up...don't throw up." Thankfully I finally calmed down and got my breath back.

I'm so proud of myself and I want to keep going with this.
Final Time ~ 1 hr 7 min (10.8 min/mile)